The Joint WOs HOPping!

So, yesterday, Sunday, Julie and I decided we were going to venture into Chinatown! I had been down there twice before. Once when I went to visit the city in May, and a few weeks ago I went to find somewhere to eat with Laura. Needless to say, we got lost and never found a place to eat.

We left around 3 in the afternoon, becuase we had to recover from the night before, and headed down the yellow line to Canal Street. Luckily Julie had researched our route in the morning, so we got there very efficiently. It was only going to be a matter of time until people realized I really shouldn't be truted with directions. I don't have that great of a track record in that department.

Canal Street was our first target for the day. It was jam-packed with crowded souvenier shops, filled with knock-off purses, pashminas, creepy little dolls singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" with a heavy Chinese accent, and people yelling at me to buy their "sunglass". Julie did end up buying a pair of black "sunglass", after debating between the lime green and fire-engine red pair.

The problem with Canal Street, aside from being crowded, was that all the shops sold the same items- and you couldn't look at anything without someone trying to squeeze it in your hand while fishing your wallet out of your pocket. So, we decided to explore another street.



After turning off of Canal Street, the crowds suddenly dissipated and it was much quieter and calmer than before. After a quick stop inside a deli to refuel, we discovered two more upscale Chinese stores. The first one we went into had a very interesting assortment of goods. There was a table with various pens, notepads, staplers, holes punchers and the sort. It also had bedding, cd players, memory foam pillows and very androgynous clothing.

The store next door was rather exciting. It remnded me a lot of Ikea- minues the strange Swedish names gien to all the furniture. It was also a lot more colorful than most of the Ikeas I had been to. Their wares looked like they would fit in nicely into a tastfully modern Manhattan apartment.

Julie and I each had some luck in this store. I found a desk that I really liked and one of the saleswomen offered to give me a print out with its information. I'm afraid that the shipping cost to Michigan will be greater than the price of the desk! Julie bought a very colorful plate decorated with the word "Yum", and a glass reading "Drink it up!". Quite amusing.

We were rather pooped after our two hours of walking and decided that we wanted to find somewhere to eat. Speedy, who works with us at SNL, at recommended a Chinese retaurant on Mott Street called "Wo Hop". He told us that it was located in the basement of a building, it's been around since 1938- and that the floors probably haven't been cleaned since then! Sounds rather intriguing, doesn't it?

So, with Julie leading the way, we easily found our way to Wo Hop on 17 Mott Street (this is not to be confused with the Wo Hop at 15 Mott Street, because that one is not nearly as good as number 17). We go to the staircase leading undergorund to find a ten person line waiting to enter this hole-in-the-wall.

As we were waiting in line, I sent a text message to Speedy letting him know where we were. He called me almost immediately afterwards with recommendations of what to get.



Shortly after, we were lead into a small room covered with various headshots of people who have visited the restaurant. Julie and I both ordered wonton soup (one of Speedy's recommendations), Julie had Shrimp Chowfun (another Speedy favorite) and I had Sweet and Pungent Chicken.... I was really hoping that they meant Sweet and Sour Chicken- because, last time I check, "pungent" meant "smelly".

Luckily, it was Sweet and Sour- and it was delicious! Speedy was right. This was GREAT FOOD! (Yes, I do realize all my blogs mention food). The Wonton Soup was excellent too! Julie's Chowfun was great. I'd never had it before. It was a noodle dish, but what was interesting was that the noodles had a texture very similar to crepes! But seriously, Wo Hop was great! Definitely going back there soon!

On our way back to the subway, we stopped by a Chinese cnady shop. There were a ton of brightly colored candies wrapped in bright packaging with fun symbols on them. So we each bought a few to try... Apparently, the Chinese do not use sugar in their candy... and you can tell! We tried these mini-yogurt cups that were filled with what seemed to be jello.... let's just say if I ever had to imagine what pee tasted like.... I would think it would come close to that.....

So goes another day in New York City!

Check back soon!